Trolley-tender.



No. 691,264. Patented Jan. I4, 1902.

A. w. HAM. TBOLLEY TENDER.

- (Application filed June 13, 1901.

(No Model.)

- UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE.

ALBERT W. I'IAM, OF LANSINGBURG, NEW YORK.

TROLLEY- TENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,264, dated January 14, 1902.

Application filed June 13, 1901.

To all whont it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT WV. HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing in Lansingburg, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Trolley-Ten ders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to trolley-tenders [or reeling in the slack of trolley-cords attached to the trolley-carrying poles of ordinary construction which are used on cars in overheadwire electric traction systems.

The functions to be performed by the trolley-tender are as follows: to reel in slack off the trolley-cord as the trolley is depressed, as when the cargoes under a bridge, and to pay out the trolley-cord as the trolley rises, as when the car comes from under a bridge, and also, in case the trolley jumps from the wire, to catch the cord immediately and prevent the trolley-pole from swinging violently to a vertical position. The dangers and inconveniences which result from this accident are too well known to require description.

In the drawings hereto annexed I have shown one form in which my invention may be embodied.

Figure 1 is a front View of my improved trolley-tender; Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section, and Fig. 3 a sectional elevation on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking from the back side.

The trolley-tender is secured to a convenient place on the car, preferably to the rear dashboard, just above the usual place for the dashboard-lantern. The mode of attachment shown in Fig. 1 is by a blade G, which is secured to the dashboard at g and offset slightly at g, so that by means of a slot in the rear part of the tender-case, presently to be described, the trolleytender may readily he slipped on and off the blade g. A notch g in the free end of the blade G serves to retain the hook 9 which is attached to the tendercase by a chain g This hook keeps the trolley-tenderin place on the blade G.

The trolley-cord T, or a flexible chain or band which may be attached to the trolleycord, enters the tender-case at the opening e Fig. 1, and winds around the spring-actuated reel 0, which is mounted inside the case.

The form in which I prefer to construct my the trolley-tender.

Serial No. 64,419. (No model.)

improved trolley-tender is shown in Fig. 2. A back plate B is formed with an annular flange B, which surrounds the shallow cylindrical chamber B and secured to or integral with the disk 13, at the'center thereof, is the spindle A, which projects toward the front of The disk B is provided with the shallow transverse groove a at the back, which provides for the insertion of the supporting-blade G. The outer casing of the trolley-tenderis in two parts-namely, a front plate E and aback plate Fwhich are provided with flanges which fit one over the other, the flange in the back plate F fitting around the periphery of the disk B. The back plate F is cut away opposite the groove 0., so that the tender may be slipped on or off the blade G, Fig. 1. Screws e secure both the plates of the casing to the peripheral portion of the disk B. The pipe 6 situated in the front plate E, provides an opening for the passage of the trolley-cord T. The cord T is wound upon the reel 0, which in the form here shown is secured to or integral with the disk 0. A circular plate 0 secured, as at c, to the reel 0, completes the trolley-cord-holding portion of the device. The disk C and reel 0 are mounted to rotate upon the spindle A, and the front plate E is secured to this spindle by a screw and washer, as at a. Under normal conditions the tension of the trolleycord T is maintained by the spring S, which is coiled around the spindle A and secured thereto at cand to the inside of the reel 0 at 0 in such manner that the spring S resists the unwinding of the cord T and winds in the slacks as the trolley-pole descends. So long as the trolley is properly in contact with the overhead wire its rise and fall are responded to by the-unwinding and rewinding of the cord upon the reel. 0; but if for any reason the trolley jumps from the wire the reel 0 is instantly arrested and the ascent of the trolley-pole prevented. This is accomplished by the following contrivances.

In Fig. 3 my trolley-tender is shown in section along the line 3 3 in Fig. 2, viewed from the back side of the trolley-tender, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2. The flange B deviates internally from the true cylindrical form, the space B constituting an eccentric enlargement in the chamber B the said enlargement B terminating at the shoulder B In the periphery of the disk 0, I provide a suitable n umber of pockets d, in each of which there is placed a roller D, these rollers lying loosely in their respective pockets. As the trolley-cord Winds and unwinds under normal conditions the rollers D remain in the pockets d, their weight being sufficient to overcome the slight centrifugal tendency during the period when in the rotation of the disk 0 the rollers D are passing by'the enlargement B of the chamber B but if the trolley leaves the wire and the trolleypole starts to spring toward the vertical position the increased speed with which the disk 0 rotates causes that one of the rollers D which first passes across the enlargement B of the chamber B to leave its seat in the pocket (1 and to assume the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3 at D. In this position the roller is carried around to the shoulder B, where it is arrested, and the'shoulder O of the pocket 61 brings up against the roller, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The radial depth of the chamber enlargement B measured from the periphery of the disk 0, is less than the diameter of the rollers D, so that the displacement of a roller from its pocket is sure to arrest the rotation of the disk 0, as described, and so that the rollers cannot be caught between the periphery of the disk 0 and the wall of the enlargement 13 This device for arresting the unwinding of the trolley-cord in case of accident is extremelysimple and surprisinglysensitive. Its sensitiveness may be increased or diminished by shifting the location of the shoulder B with relation to the horizontal diameter of the disk 0 or by altering the inclination of the sides of the pockets d withh'elation to the radii of the disk O. The arrangement here shown, Where the enlargement B is located in an upper quadrant of the chamber B ,with the shoulder B near the horizontal diameter of the chamber, is recommended as efficient.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a trolley-tender, the combination of a spring-controlled reel, catch-pockets secured thereto, roller-catches in the pockets, and a shoulder whereby a roller-catch is arrested when the catch is centrifugally moved from its seat in the pocket.

2. In a trolley-tender, the combination of a spring-controlled reel, catch-pockets secured thereto, a cylindrical chamber wherein the pockets rotate,provided with an enlargement, roller-catches in the pockets, the said enlargement terminating in a shoulder whereby a roller-catch is arrested when the catch is centrifugally moved from its seat in the pocket.

3. In a trolley-tender, the combination of a spring-controlled reel, catch-pockets secured thereto, a cylindrical chamber wherein the pockets rotate, provided with an enlargement in one of its upper quadrants, roller-catches in the said pockets, the said enlargement terminating in a shoulder at or near the horizontal diameter of the cylindrical chamber, whereby a roller-catch is arrested when the catch is centrifugally moved from its seat in the pocket.

Signed by meat Troy, New York, this 10th day of June, 1901.

ALBERT W. HAM.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR M. WIGHT, FRANCIS J. MoLLoY. 

